By USA Today

Published: Wednesday, January 16, 2013, 8:44 p.m.
Updated: Thursday, January 17, 2013

Before the policy fight could begin over the Obama administration's new proposals on gun regulation, the NRA had drawn intense criticism on Wednesday for an ad critical of Obama that mentions his two children.

The ad calls Obama an “elitist hypocrite” because his daughters, Malia and Sasha, have Secret Service protection at their school, but the president has not embraced the NRA's proposal for armed security at all schools.

“Most Americans agree that a president's children should not be used as pawns in a political fight,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said. “But to go so far as to make the safety of the president's children the subject of an attack ad is repugnant and cowardly.”

In the ad, which doesn't show pictures of the Obama girls, a narrator says, “Are the president's kids more important than yours? Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools, when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school? ... Protection for their kids and gun-free zones for ours.”

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